Problem: A farmer had $88$ melons growing in her garden. In June, the farmer had picked $14$ melons. In July, a thunderstorm knocked a branch from a tree and crushed half the melons that remained in the garden. Then the farmer picked the rest. How many melons did the farmer pick in June and July combined?
We can subtract to find the number of melons that were left in the garden in June. $88$ $14$ total melons melons picked in June melons remaining $88}-{14}={74}$ There were ${74}$ melons left in the garden at the end of June. The branch crushed half the melons that remained in the garden, and the farmer picked the remaining half. So we can divide to find out how many melons the branch crushed and how many were picked. $74$ melons in garden in July crushed melons melons picked in July ${74} \div 2= {37}$ The branch crushed ${37}$ melons, so the farmer picked the remaining ${37}$ melons. To find the total amount of melons the farmer picked in June and July, we can add the total amount of melons picked in each month. $14$ $37$ total melons picked melons picked in June melons picked in July ${14}+{37} = {51}$ The farmer picked ${51}$ melons in all.